


Shedding Season (Commission)

by The_Sickfic_Sideblog



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Centaur Lance, Gen, Shedding, Snakes, Snakes and Horses AU, naga keith
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-22
Updated: 2017-08-22
Packaged: 2018-12-16 11:40:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,247
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11827998
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Sickfic_Sideblog/pseuds/The_Sickfic_Sideblog
Summary: A commission based on polarspaz's Snakes and Horses AU on Tumblr about the paladins getting changed into mythical creatures. Shenanigans ensue.They've finally adjusted to their new forms until Keith realizes that he can really never be comfortable in his own skin.





	Shedding Season (Commission)

There wasn’t much to be said about the transformation because the paladins really didn’t know much. One moment, they were fighting the Galra flagship, and the next they were hit with a beam of oddly-colored quintessence, and they were, well…mythical.

That being said, it was hard at first. But adjustments were made, the paladins adapted, and a new standard of normal came into play.

That lasted a nice long week.

Keith and his naga body seemed to be having the most troubles. He became secluded (more so than usual), he stopped eating as much, he even started snapping and nearly biting those who annoyed him. After a quick group meeting, it was decided that perhaps Lance should talk to him.

He found the Red Paladin locked up in the showers, hot water filling the room with steam that fogged the mirrors and windows. Based on how the walls seemed to sweat with moisture, he’d been in here a really long time. A little too long for his normal brooding shower.

“Hey, Keith? Buddy? Your jack-off session is going a little long this time, the rest of us need a turn.”

That was certainly one way to draw him out. “I’m not jacking off!” he shouted, making a frustrated noise as something fell to the ground. “ _Fuck_!”

“I’m not sure how much hot water the castleship can hold, but I’m pretty sure you’re using it all up.”

“It’s a spaceship and also a castle and also a huge weapon, I think it’s fine. Just leave me alone for a bit.”

So maybe it was also a brooding shower. Lance sighed and decided to make himself comfortable on the steamy floor. The tiles weren’t good on his knobby knees, so he flopped over as best he could without cracking his back. “Are you gonna make me do the Shiro talk?”

“…the Shiro talk?”

“You know-” Lance put on his best Shiro impression, “‘You’re equally as valuable as the rest of us and you’re a great paladin and I’m gonna be your father figure. Blah blah blah patience means focus blah blah blah-’”

“It’s patience _yields_ focus. And I don’t need that talk again, not from you at least.”

Lance started making himself a little support out of towels. “Okay, so what do you need from me?”

Keith went quiet for a long time, and Lance was patient about it. When he finally shut off the water, Lance perked up. “So…you know the whole transformation thing happened?”

“What? I transformed?” he tapped a hoof on the tile, “I didn’t even notice.”

“I thought you were trying to help.”

“Sorry, continue.”

“Well…you know how I get colder now? And how Hunk hoards things and all the new stuff?”

Lance was getting a bit impatient, but he nodded. “Uh-huh.”

“…snakes shed, Lance.”

Keith heard restrained laughter hiding in towels and felt his cheeks burn. “It’s not _funny_! I-I can’t even see, Lance!”

The centaur immediately stopped laughing. “Wait…you can’t see?”

“No! There’s like…dead skin or some film over my eyes, and I haven’t eaten in days and I just wanna go hide and everything itches!”

Lance rose from his spot on the ground, trying desperately not to slip on the wet ground. “Well, I know a thing or two about dead skin. Maybe I could help you?”

“It’s _a lot_ of skin, Lance. It’s disgusting.”

“It can’t be that bad, Keith. And I just made up some of that Altean face scrub Allura uses, I’m sure I can let you borrow some. Come on, man. At least let me assess the situation?”

Keith blinded palmed for the lock on the shower, struggling to get it open without his direct line of sight. When he finally got it open, Lance tried not to flinch away. “Okay, that….is a lot of dead skin…shit…”

It was like someone had dunked Keith in a layer of kindergarten glue and let him dry out, then pushed him into a pool. White-gray flakes of skin covered his entire snakey body, except where the water had doused him to make the skin transparent and stick to his body again. Quite honestly, it was both Lance’s and every employee at Lush’s nightmare. He was about to make some quip about the mullet producing extra dandruff when he saw Keith’s eyes.

The normally piercing blue-gray was glossed over, not unlike a lizard or a frog with a second pair of eyelids for going underwater. Underneath the film, Lance could see Keith’s eyes darting back and forth in a panic, trying to focus on something in the hazy blur. The Blue Paladin kept the dandruff comment to himself.

“Shit buddy, that looks real bad…” he muttered instead, “I don’t know much about snakes, but we can at least get your human parts cleaned up. And I don’t think this shower is gonna do you much more good. Hop on, let’s get you an exfoliating scrub.”

With Lance producing extra body heat from his horse body, and Keith needing extra warmth, the two developed an agreement only a few days after the transformation. Keith could lay on top of Lance and soak up his heat so long as he didn’t make any broody or mean comments while he was there. It was a work in progress, but Lance had definitely gotten used to the extra weight on his second back. So he carried the wet Keith back to his room with no problem, hoofs clopping along the castleship floor.

The first part of the skin removal process was done in relative silence. The first thing Lance did was gently pull the film off Keith’s eyes, giving him a big smile when he could finally see again. “Alright, there you go. You can get back to glaring at us soon.”

Keith blinked a few times before doing exactly that. “Just help me get the rest of this off.”

Lance laughed and got to work. There wasn’t nearly enough of the Altean scrub to get all of Keith’s body, but they focused on the key areas where it was needed and improvised the rest. It took a lot of grit, elbow grease, and scrubbing, but at the end of the day, Keith was clean and covered in shiny new scales that glimmered under the castleship lights.

“Well, I think that’s as much as I can do for you,” Lance said as he swept the last bit of skin into a dustpan with his tail, “But you _gotta_ put lotion on every night if you don’t want next time to be as bad.”

Keith nodded, still admiring his shimmering arms. “I will. That was brutal.” He looked up with the most sincerity Lance had seen in a long time, “Thank you.”

The centaur blushed and scuffed a hoof on the ground. “It’s not a problem. It’s not like I could bear seeing your dead scales suffer any longer. You’re lucky I didn’t come at you with a pumice stone.”

“I…don’t know what that is. But I appreciate it. Is there anything I can do for you?”

Lance wasn’t expecting to have the favor returned. “Well…I think there’s been a rock stuck in my back hoof for a day or so now.”

“You didn’t ask anyone to get it out earlier?”

“I thought it would go away on its own!”

Keith scoffed and took Lance’s hind leg in his hands, “You really know nothing about animals, do you?”


End file.
